THE SYLVAN HISTORIAN CO.
Hello there, friend.
We are Nina & Elliot, a duo of art historians, amateur naturalists, and educators passionate about nature and art. The Sylvan Historian Co. is a burgeoning project seeking to build community around the intersections of art and nature. Our goal is to help foster and uplift creative practices that build individual, collective, and global awareness about our relationship to land and the environment.
Our name comes from the opening lines of John Keats' poem Ode on a Grecian Urn. The word sylvan means one dwelling in or knowledgeable of the forest. The phrase brings together our loves of poetry, art, history, and the natural world, and the idea of the vessel as a container that carries, holds, and helps to nourish us.
We believe in the power of art to help shift our perceptions of ourselves and the environment. We seek to create experiences, environments, gatherings, and platforms to highlight the work of writers, makers, and visual artists engaging with land, environment, sustainability, nature, and place. We are working towards building a brick & mortar studio and shop that will showcase the work of zine makers, writers, and small, independent publishers who are thinking about and engaging with the natural environment and our place in it.
As individuals and collaborators, we are inspired by the people and places that surround us here in the Berkshires. During the day, Nina is a Curator at the Williams College Museum of Art, and Elliot is a graduate student in Art History working on contemporary art, landscape, and time. Nina has a background in painting, poetry, and publishing. She was the former editor and designer of Central Booking Magazine, a publication of artist's books and the intersections of art and science. Elliot has a BFA in photography, and has longstanding passions for geology and tea. We live in a historic Tudor Revival house in North Adams, MA that we call The Cascades Cottage. Together, we love to cook, hike, collect, dream, write, make, and spend time with our cat, Juniper and our pup, Willow.
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WHATS ON THE HORIZON
The Sylvan Historian Co. is still just a seedling of an idea, but we have big dreams. Right now, we are building our platform through instagram, using social media to highlight some of the artists, makers, and thinkers we love who are working at the intersection of art and nature. We are excited to host gatherings inspired by the intersections of creativity and the environment. Some of those ideas include Shrinking Violet Social Hours, a happy hour alternative for the introverted and otherwise; Full Moon Pop-Up Dinners, inspired by local and regional farmers and chefs; Music for the Birds, tiny concerts by local musicians inspired by bird songs; The Tiny Twigs Nature Writing Afternoons, a free program for children and teens; and workshops and retreats with zine-makers, poets, and artists.
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Further afield, we have dreams of a brick and mortar space where community could gather for programs around art and the environment. We dream of serving tea & natural wine alongside a small selection of publications, tea, ceramics, and plants. We have hopes of launching a publishing studio for original zines and chapbooks by community members and artists-in-residence. Help us make our dream come true!
WHO WE ARE
ELLIOT KRASNOPOLER
Elliot is a graduate student working on the intersections landscape, and time in contemporary art. He has a BFA in fine art photography, and has deep passions for rocks and tea.
NINA PELAEZ
Nina is a museum worker dedicated to building communities around art and ideas. She has a background in fine art and poetry. Most of all, she loves local food, gardening, and design.